recourse

[ree-kawrs, -kohrs, ri-kawrs, -kohrs]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR recourse ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

access or resort to a person or thing for help or protection: to have recourse to the courts for justice.

a person or thing resorted to for help or protection.

the right to collect from a maker or endorser of a negotiable instrument. The endorser may add the words “without recourse” on the instrument, thereby transferring the instrument without assuming any liability.

Origin of recourse

1350–1400; Middle English recours < Old French < Late Latin recursus, Latin: return, retreat, noun use of past participle of recurrere to run back; see recur

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for recourse

remedy, stopgap, resource, help, expediency, shift, support, substitute, choice, resort, makeshift, expedient, aid, appeal, refuge, option, stand-by

Examples from the Web for recourse

Contemporary Examples of recourse

What recourse would they have to prove that they should be eligible for release?
Are Mandatory Ebola Quarantines Legal?
Tim Mak
October 28, 2014
I know that it might get nowhere, but this is my only recourse.
Iran Says Take Off the Veil—and Be Raped
IranWire
June 9, 2014
Had the board decided to give Eich a few weeks to prove himself, those who disagreed would have had no recourse.
Chill Out About Firefox, Everybody
Gene Robinson
April 5, 2014
They, according to one juror, who spoke to Nightline, believed Dunn had no recourse but to shoot.
Michael Dunn, Jordan Davis, and America's Racist Heritage
Jamelle Bouie
February 19, 2014
However well-intentioned, we are not sure that this bill would be the most effective means of recourse.
The Movement to Boycott the American Studies Association for Boycotting Israel
David Freedlander
February 15, 2014

Historical Examples of recourse

So much the worse for him, if he has not recourse to their remedies.
The Imaginary Invalid
Molire
When did a rheumatic ploughman have recourse to Bath or Buxton?
In the Heart of Vosges
Matilda Betham-Edwards
I am grieved to be driven to have recourse to the following artifices.
Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
When once a man has recourse to reason and precision, there is an end of love.
Tales And Novels, Volume 8 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
So, in this dilemma, I had recourse to a piece of jesuitry, of which I was not a little proud.
Henry Dunbar
M. E. Braddon

British Dictionary definitions for recourse

recourse

noun

the act of resorting to a person, course of action, etc, in difficulty or danger (esp in the phrase have recourse to)

a person, organization, or course of action that is turned to for help, protection, etc

the right to demand payment, esp from the drawer or endorser of a bill of exchange or other negotiable instrument when the person accepting it fails to pay

without recourse a qualified endorsement on such a negotiable instrument, by which the endorser protects himself or herself from liability to subsequent holders

Word Origin for recourse

C14: from Old French recours, from Late Latin recursus a running back, from re- + currere to run

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for recourse

late 14c., from Old French recours (13c.), from Latin recursus "a return, a retreat," literally "a running back, a going back," from stem of past participle of recurrere "run back, return" (see recur).